University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (UHS) is a regional health system serving 29 counties in eastern North Carolina. UHS includes eight hospitals, a free-standing ambulatory surgery center, physician practices, hospice and home health care and other independently operated health services. Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH), an 851-bed tertiary care center, is the flagship teaching hospital for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.
 
The Beginning of Patient- and Family-Centered Care at UHS

Successful efforts to advance patient- and family-centered care began at PCMH during the late 1990s at its Children's Hospital and Regional Rehabilitation Center. However, these efforts, though valuable in the areas where they occurred, did not advance patient- and family-centered care throughout PCMH and UHS. . .

Hearing the Inconsistencies of Care Firsthand—The Power of Storytelling

Personal accounts of employees as patients or family members of patients highlighted the vast differences of experiences across service lines at PCMH. Some employees worked in clinical units that embraced patient- and family-centered care, yet had personal experiences of care in clinical areas that did not. These employees began to work to embed patient- and family-centered care into the fabric of the hospital. They believed best practices in patient- and family-centered care should be "hard wired" into daily performance rather than dependent on individual staff members or units committed to patient-family partnerships. . .

A defining moment in this evolution occurred in May 2007, when a PCMH employee, Christie Odom—a physical therapist in Pediatric Rehabilitation for 14 years—and her family shared their story with senior leaders at PCMH and UHS. . .

Christie’s Story

In Christie's professional experience, the pediatric rehabilitation staff members always strive to improve program and services, and embrace the patient- and family-centered care philosophy, with patients and families at the center of the team. Patients and families are involved in decision-making and participate in patient care conferences. From the beginning, “we get the family involved in range of motion, taking splints on and off, and helping with repositioning. This helps us out, but more importantly, it involves the family as a valuable asset in their child’s recovery. Family members are not considered visitors in Rehab. They are welcome 24/7.”

Christie then told of the tragedy of her 21-year-old brother, Scott, the victim of a home invasion, who was shot in the chest. He received great care in the Emergency Department, but once in the adult ICU his family was limited to seeing him for 15 minutes every two hours. . . Read More

In January, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, longtime Institute Pinwheel Sponsor, dedicated its new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. The Yawkey Center's design incorporates not only input and review from architects, engineers, public officials, faculty, staff, but also “extensive involvement” of members of Dana-Farber's Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFAC). "'It was clear from day one that Dana-Farber's administration valued the input from its patients and their families, and its staff, on the Yawkey Center's design,' said Marlene Nusbaum, a seven-year breast cancer survivor, a member of the adult PFAC, and co-chair of the Patient Experience Committee. 'From exam room layout to the plans for parking to the elements in the healing garden, our opinions and suggestions greatly influenced the building's design and the processes that will occur within the clinics and throughout the center…'"
 
Learn more about the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

Learn more about the history of Dana-Farber’s patient- and family-centered care journey.

Bring an interdisciplinary team to the St. Louis Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care three and half day intensive training seminar May 2-5, 2011. Interdisciplinary teams from health systems, hospitals, and community programs often include administrative leaders, physicians, and nurses and other clinical staff, as well as patient and family advisors/leaders who are consumers of health care services. This mix of team members contributes to the educational value of the seminar. The seminar encourages dialogue within and among teams, and with the seminar faculty. Interdisciplinary patient/family/professional teams are best positioned to provide leadership for patient- and family-centered change following the seminar.

In addition to attending faculty-led seminar sessions, participants may sign up for one of two guided tours for Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 3 pm:

• A tour of St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH). See the recently renovated 75-bed newborn intensive care unit, ranked 3rd in the nation by Parents magazine, the Simulation Center where parents serve as ‘actors’ to train clinical staff on communication skills, 8,000 sq. ft. interactive rooftop healing garden, comprehensive Family Resource Center, and more.

• A tour of St. Louis Union Station, a National Historic Landmark opened in 1894. The station was the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world. Today, its grand structure and amazing architecture includes unique shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
  

Space is limited for these tours. Seminar registration is open.

A Special Thanks to the St. Louis Seminar Sponsors

The Institute extends its sincere thanks to the following organizations for their leadership support in bringing the Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care intensive training seminar to St. Louis, Missouri in May 2011:

Missouri Foundation for Health

St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Barnes-Jewish Hospital

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) is the founding sponsor of Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW) to be celebrated this year March 6-12. Patient Safety Awareness Week is an annual education and awareness campaign for health care safety. Internationally, health care organizations take part in the event by displaying the NPSF campaign logo and promotional materials, and distributing NPSF educational resources to health care staff.

Empowering patients and strengthening patient-provider communications are paramount to reducing errors within the health system and reducing readmission rates, as is the understanding of the impact of cultural diversity and inherent safety risks. The 2011 PSAW toolkits provide resources specific to reducing hospital readmissions and understanding cultural competency.

NPSF asks you to “Be a part of the celebration and commitment to safe care by encouraging and strengthening collaboration between patients, families and healthcare providers…. be INformed, INvolved and INvested.”

Learn more about the “Are You In? Commit to Safe Health Care" Campaign. Check out the 2011 NPSF Video and learn more about how to use the 2011 PSAW Toolkit. 

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) released Achieving an Exceptional Patient and Family Experience of Inpatient Hospital Care, one of the IHI Innovation Series White Papers. 

IHI conducted an in-depth review of the research, studied exemplar organizations, and interviewed experts in the field, in response to growing interest from the hospital community in better understanding and improving the experience of patients and their families during hospitalization. IHI sought to identify the primary and secondary drivers of exceptional patient and family inpatient hospital experience (defined as care that is patient-centered, safe, effective, timely, efficient, and equitable), as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey’s “willingness to recommend” the hospital.
 
The project identified five primary drivers of exceptional patient and family inpatient hospital experience of care:

• leadership;
  
• staff hearts and minds;
  
• respectful partnership;
  
• reliable care; and
  
• evidence-based care. . .  

Balik, B., Conway, J., Zipperer, L., & Watson, J. (2011). Achieving an exceptional patient and family experience of inpatient hospital care. Cambridge, MA: Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (Available on www.ihi.org)